"… for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee" (Augustine, Confessiones).

Thank You for fellowship

We are imperfect people. We fail to love. We fail to be true to others as we are before God. We say the price is too expensive to pay, the burden too heavy to bear. We fail to comprehend Christ even though His word is laid bare before us. We get easily disappointed with ourselves, although we do not directly blame God why He made us the way we are. We get too scared to take a step. We do not want to trust Him. We confess, but are unwilling to be forgiven. We live day by day as if His grace is insufficient for us. We seldom say things that truly come from our hearts. We make promises, but fail to keep them. We live as if He is far away and though we know that we are living in His presence, our lives make no difference. We are so pathetic.

We are imperfect people. But as we gather, we witness God working through us. A fellowship is a fellowship of imperfect people. But where imperfection abound, grace abounds all the more. I have witnessed His work again and again through fellowship. He speaks, stirs, rebukes, encourages, through imperfect people. I call this the wonder, power, and beauty of fellowship. Surely fellowship is not a place where everything goes smooth sailing—where there are no disappointments, misunderstandings, or pretensions of any sorts. These are just plain fact of an imperfect gathering of imperfect people. But we will never know what wonder, power, and beauty a fellowship can bring. We will never know how someone will speak from the bottom of his heart, and suddenly we share the same passion and concern for the kingdom of God. We will never know great and mighty works He is doing in the life of a brother or a sister. We witness His Spirit at work in real life, in real people. We will never know how a fellowship of imperfect people can be a most beautiful place to be.

Someone says, “Even if there is such thing as a perfect fellowship, I believe I will never belong there. For as soon as I step in, it will no longer be a perfect fellowship.” The road is long. The journey has not yet ended. In the road of progressive sanctification, though many are our failures, we find hope in the God of a fellowship of imperfect people. We would never be able to make this journey of life if we were alone. As the song goes, let us say, “As we gather, may Your Spirit work within us.” Thank You, Lord, for fellowship.

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